Earlier at the ministry here, Dr Noor Hisham said there was sufficient medical manpower in public health institutions in Johor and Malacca.

He added that public hospitals and clinics had started to distribute regular face masks to the public in areas where the Air Pollution Index was above the 300 level, which is considered hazardous.

“We have ordered our staff to focus on attending to the emergency unit and we do not need to mobilise manpower (to Johor and Malacca) as our clinics and hospitals are ready to cope with this situation.

“If services are needed in rural areas, we will provide it,” he said after launching the inaugural National Patient Safety Campaign and Seminar here yesterday.

On patient safety, Dr Noor Hisham urged health organisations to discard the “blaming culture” in order to promote a “reporting culture” so that undesired incidents in a medical procedure are reported “as a matter of routine”.

“Once a reporting culture is established, we can then proceed to developing an analytical culture, where the root cause analysis of the incidents and near-misses are performed in a scientific manner and lessons are learned so that they can be incorporated in the design and implementation of better systems of care.

“Errors are the result of a faulty system, not faulty people,” he said.